For the last three years I have been a happy participant in the Rainbow Snippets group where every week we posted six lines from a work of ours, a work-in-progress or published or a recommendation of someone else’s work with at least one LGBT character. The group was moderated by Paula Wyant. I was taking a break from doing that (I was running out of stories) when I heard the news that Paula had died last weekend. I had already planned this bit from my friend J. Scott Coatsworth’s new book which was released last week. So I’m posting it here with thanks to Paula for all the fun and making Rainbow Snippets a welcoming site which became a little community for all of us. I’ll just post it as I wrote it a few days ago.—-jeff

Here’s a link to Rainbow Snippets https://www.facebook.com/groups/963484217054974

Okay, I’m back, (for this week anyway!) My friend J. Scott Coatsworth’s new book “The Death Bringer” is out! https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com/book/the-death-bringer/ The fourth book in his Tharassas Cycle (which was supposed to be a trilogy, but it grew!) Let’s jump right in, shall we?

He’d been someone else. Before.

Who was I? Memories of a face—dark hair, intense eyes that nevertheless twinkled at him. Raven.

It came flooding back to him. His mother. His life in Gullton. Training to be a guard and meeting Raven for the first time. My name is Aik.

He reached for the mask that covered his face. It was suffocating. Something was stuck in his throat, and he coughed hard, trying to force it out, whipping around and causing the liquid around him to flash red in alarm.

Okay. Here’s more…

Calm yourself. The voice was as thick and heavy as an ix hide, and just as soft and warm.

Aik pushed back. What are you doing to me? I don’t want this! Let me out! He thrashed about, trying to force his way through the suffocating liquid. The metal crept up his shoulder. If it covered all of him, he would be lost.

Calm yourself! It was more insistent this time.

Still more…

Aik stiffened as an enforced lethargy settled over him. He lost control of his limbs, falling still in his floating prison. The voice pressed against his mind. You’re safe. Be calm, my little one.

He closed his eyes and thought of Raven, trying to stay fixed on that face. I can’t let myself forget again.

Then the world around him dissolved, and he was swept up in a torrent of memories that weren’t his own.

Whet your appetite? Good! I’ll go all fanboy and say that I’m crazy about anything Scott writes! (And I’ve met him; he’s an awfully nice guy!)

And with that I will once more say thanks to Paula and express my sympathies to her family, friends and readers —-jeff